Disciples Global Network

The Church has been plagued for centuries by prophets, seers, and mystics who claim to possess secret knowledge and new insights into the mysteries of God beyond anything found in the Scriptures, knowledge obtained via visions and dreams, or perhaps by deciphering the Hebrew alphabet or the Jewish calendar. The Bible certainly does speak of God’s “ mysteries ,” His unexpected ways that differ radically from human wisdom, but they were disclosed in His Son twenty centuries ago.

Not only does Jesus play the central role in revealing the nature of God, but he also is the very heart and foundation of his Father’s creative and redemptive efforts, especially the deliverance of humanity from enslavement to Sin and Death. He is the only One in whom the glory of the Creator of all things is seen, and the only One who is qualified to interpret His Father. In the Nazarene, all the promises of God to and for His children find their significance and fulfillment, their “ Yea ” and “ Amen .”

According to the Apostle John, “ life ” is found in the “ Word ” or ' Logos ', and this life is the “ Light of men .” It is “ shining in the darkness ,” and the darkness “ cannot seize ” or suppress it. This same “ Word ” has become the Living Word in Jesus of Nazareth. In him, the glory and life of God are fully manifested - (John 1:1).

The  Gospel of John  identifies Jesus as the  Logos , the “ Word ” through which God made all things. This theme is threaded throughout  John  and builds on traditional ideas from the Hebrew Bible about how God created the Universe, especially life through His spoken Word. Jesus of Nazareth is the ultimate expression of that Word and the Living God.

Central to the doctrine of salvation is the promise of redemption. God will not abandon what He first created, and both the term and the concept mean the recovery of what was lost. At present, the universe is enslaved by sin and condemned to decay and death. In God’s redemptive plans, the end state of redeemed things and persons is vastly superior to their original state, and this principle is epitomized in the promise of bodily resurrection.